I am planning to start up a small business supplying maize to boarding schools. I usually do it although to homesteads on order. In the near future, I will be expanding and mostly the deliveries will be done by the motorcyclist as they will be in large quantities. The profits from the business will be taking care of my kids' school fees.

In my opinion, what GiveDirectly does well in this program is that we receive the transfers in lumpsum amounts. This helps in planning as one is in a position to do something huge as compared to when the transfers are given in small instalments. Another thing that GiveDirectly does well is that the unlearned recipients are taught how to use mpesa. This has reduced the number of theft cases in the community as most of us managed to change our pins to a more secure code. To avoid household conflict, what needs to be done differently is enrolling all the individuals in the household. During enrollment, those individuals who did not have responsibilities by then were left out of the program yet these are the same people who steal from their old and vulnerable parents. Another thing that needs to be done differently is enrolling all the communities in a specific village for uniformity purposes and this will prevent too many complaints coming from the communities that are left out during the registration to the programs.

Before the transfers, I never had cows before as I had no source of income. I used the transfers to buy female cows for kshs 35,000. This is for milk production for my family's consumption and sale. I do casual work to earn a living and most of the time the pay is too little to cater for my basic needs, I do top it up with the money from selling milk and this has enabled me to take care of other basic needs like food, clothing and kids school fees. I used the remaining part of the transfers to buy a piece of three-seater furniture. I used to fear hosting friends and relatives as I never had enough seats for them, but my self-esteem has improved since I started receiving transfers from GiveDirectly.

I was checking my phone as usual. It was around 7Am I was still preparing the breakfast. I got a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. This was the happiest morning I have ever had. I have never received such amount of money before, I felt so happy and immediately informed my family members and we all celebrated the amazing news. I knew I would be able to buy a dairy cow. This was one of the biggest investment that I have always wished to own. I withdraw the money the following day. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has enabled us to fulfilled our dreams.

A dairy cow was my main target and this is the biggest difference in my daily life. I have always wished to own a dairy cow but it was not possible. I used to buy milk daily and this was so costly for me. I depend on casual jobs and farming. I do plant maize and other horticulture crops. This was so small since I was not able to save any money from it. Mostly it was for consumption and basic household items. When I received the transfer I felt so happy and we decided to invest in dairy keeping project. Currently, I no longer stress about where to get the money to buy milk. My family members have enough milk unlike before. I sell the surplus milk to earn an income to meet other household items. I can save the money that I would have used to buy milk for other needs. I am so grateful because GiveDirectly has improved our living standards to be much better than before.

I spend KES 45,000 on purchasing a dairy cow. This is my dream come true. I have always wished to own a dairy cow. This was not possible before because I have no savings or a constant source of income. For the rest of the money, I was able to pay school fees for my child who is in secondary school. He is so happy because he has enough time to study without being disturbed like before. All this has given me peace of mind to conduct other activities without being stressed. I am so grateful for the support.